alumni

Cultivating Change – Guayakí 21 Years Later

By Shoshana Hebshi-Holt (Journalism ‘98)

In 1996, a Mustang Daily reporter named Shoshana Hebshi interviewed her classmate with an unusual business idea and ended up writing the first article about Guayakí Yerba Mate. More than two decades later, the two conducted a follow-up interview to see what has changed. When I met Alex Pryor in October 1996, we sat at an outdoor table near Barnes and Noble downtown San Luis Obispo. It was a sunny, beautiful afternoon, and he was explaining to me, a reporter for the Mustang Daily, how he became the “yerba mate dealer” on campus. Through his Argentinian accent he explained how…

Last Word

Reasons for Hope

For this issue, I’d like to step aside and let you hear from one of the people on the front lines of recent campus events. — Jeffrey D. Armstrong, President This spring, Cal Poly spent quite a bit of time in the news for reasons that we are certainly not proud of. As I was engaged in working through this turbulent situation as a Cal Poly Alumnus, a longtime member of this community, and most directly as Cal Poly’s Director of Admissions, I felt the need to reach out to our prospective students and their parents about what I was…

alumni

Lesbians Who Tech

By Melody Klemin

Five thousand LGBTQ women and allies flood the Castro Theatre in San Francisco one rainy March morning. High fives abound. Outfits and hair are on point. The marquee outside reads, “5th Lesbians Who Tech + Allies Summit — Welcome to Your Queer, Inclusive & Badass Squad.” As the theater lights inside go dark, music blasts and the crowd jumps to its feet, roaring with applause for the courageous, queer woman who brought this community together. Out steps Cal Poly alumna Leanne Pittsford (Political Science ’04), founder and CEO of Lesbians Who Tech + Allies, now the largest LGBTQ network of…